[A Machine for Sins] Prelude: Friday Night At The Office

Grey

Grey

Dialectical Hermeticist
Rain beats softly against the dark windows as is only right for a real English summer, and the cozy break room is all the more inviting for it. Comfy couches, coffee and tea, and tastefully hidden speakers piping



into the room.
An LED clock on a side table displays the time at 6PM, but the heavy clouds make it seem closer to ten.


The security guard who introduced himself as Damian holds the door open for you.


"Director Lestrange will be with you shortly, Mr. Brown, as will your colleagues. I hope you don't mind waiting a little, but to be honest you're here early."


He shrugs, halfway between apology and an attempt to excuse himself.
 
Victor went through the front door, wiping the cold rain out of his hair. Everything was oppressively gloomy out there, as if the area was being suffocated. A reverberant hideous giggle at the back of his mind told him the things were quite amused by that simile, except it really felt- he realized with a hint of alarm, as if they were right there over his shoulder.


Not now, I have to focus for the meeting. The front desk gave him directions, with a security guard to escort him. Victor exhaled as he followed - but the glint in his blue eyes was eerie.
 
"An affliction I've had all my life, it seems." Marcus said ruefully, shaking his head. "Thank you, though. Looking forward to the opportunities here." He walks in, pours himself a cup of coffee, still feeling stretched thin between the pub and waking early to get here--miraculously. He'd emptied his stomach shortly after waking, the coffee will settle him. "May not be such a bad night after all." He mutters to himself.
 
One cannot help but note the bottle of fine Glendfiddich whiskey near the coffee pot. 21 years in oak casks, just waiting to be drunk. Frying pan, fryer...


And so Victor and Marcus sit alone in the waiting room.
 
Might as well be polite.


"Evening," he says, warm as he can manage, approaches the man. Blows the steam from his coffee. "Marcus Brown." He holds out a hand.
 
“Ah, apparently summer here and summer where I come from are two entirely different things,” a tint of an American southern accent colored the feminine voice that addressed the security guard. The dark-haired woman flashed a sunny smile at him. “Thanks.”


Dr. Thomason stepped through the door, collapsing her neon-blue umbrella and wiping off the excess moisture before wrapping it shut, struggling with the price-tag that still clung to it. Dampness had settled in her hair and soaked the shoulders of her shirt, indicating the reason for the last-minute purchase.


Walking into the break-room, she sniffed the air and stopped short at the aroma of coffee. "Oh thank goodness, a decent cup of caffeine," she flung the umbrella into the umbrella rack and rushed to the coffee pot, embracing the cup like a lover. She settled herself into one of the couches and eyed the two men thoughtfully. After taking a long sip from her mug, she smiled, "Good evening, gentlemen."
 
"Evening!" Marcus says, turning to greet the newcomer. "Our little group is growing larger. Curious." He holds out a hand. "Marcus Brown, charmed."
 
[QUOTE="Cthulhu_Wakes]
Might as well be polite.
"Evening," he says, warm as he can manage, approaches the man. Blows the steam from his coffee. "Marcus Brown." He holds out a hand.

[/QUOTE]
Victor blinked from his self-musing, and nodded, shaking Brown's hand quietly. "Victor Shuler."

DreamingofRoses said:
“Ah, apparently summer here and summer where I come from are two entirely different things,” a tint of an American southern accent colored the feminine voice that addressed the security guard. The dark-haired woman flashed a sunny smile at him. “Thanks.”
Dr. Thomason stepped through the door, collapsing her neon-blue umbrella and wiping off the excess moisture before wrapping it shut, struggling with the price-tag that still clung to it. Dampness had settled in her hair and soaked the shoulders of her shirt, indicating the reason for the last-minute purchase.


Walking into the break-room, she sniffed the air and stopped short at the aroma of coffee. "Oh thank goodness, a decent cup of caffeine," she flung the umbrella into the umbrella rack and rushed to the coffee pot, embracing the cup like a lover. She settled herself into one of the couches and eyed the two men thoughtfully. After taking a long sip from her mug, she smiled, "Good evening, gentlemen."
Click to expand...
Victor smiled politely at the woman and nodded to her. "Good evening." Something about her soaked look seemed to strike an appearance - say, a steampunk like Victorian woman down a dark rainy street, yes...
 
She rose briefly to shake Marcus' hand and returned the nod to Victor, "A pleasure to meet you both, Mr. Schuler, Mr. Brown. My name is Missy Thomason, but you can call me 'Doctor'." She grinned and settled back down into her seat and began sipping at her coffee once more. "I'm assuming you all are here for the same reason I am. I guess that means we'll be working together on this project."
 
"One would suppose, aye. But does anyone know exactly what we'll be doing? The Complex has quite the storied history. I mean, are we building some kind of file for a documentary, cataloging, what?"
 
The door opens to admit the large frame of John Hall II. Ducking through he dripped apologetically, and carefully hung his overcoat at the door. "Sorry I'm late. Ran into someone on the way out of the library. Took forever to get all the books laid out to dry..." Shuffling to lower himself into a couch cushion he brushed some droplets from his backpack and pulled out a well bound notebook and then looked around to the others trying to size them up without staring.
 
Heading in under the cover of a folded newspaper, Jason Ross was glad to be out of the rain, and it seemed no matter how long one lives in London, the weather is always as terrible no matter the season. Sure, there were periods of sun and heat but still, rain was a national institution, along with fish and chips, the Royal family and queueing.


Jason was just glad there was no queue to wait for as he entered the office, and gave a smile to those already present.


"Evening, everyone," he says, a little nervously, flicking out the rather damp tabloid paper. "Jason Ross, a pleasure."
 
"That is a fantastic question..."


Missy drained her coffee and rubbed her forehead, the time difference was getting to her. She looked up as others entered the room. "Ah, good evening you two."
 
"Evening." Victor said, though to John he added, "That happened once. Very unfortunate. The librarians had conniptions."
 
Jason nodded and smiled as others made their introductions, before quickly heading over to grab a cup of coffee, glad to finally be out of the rain. Taking a free seat, Jason took his first sip, listening to any conversations going on around the room.
 
She looked between John and Jason, "I don't suppose you two have any idea what we will be doing inside the Complex? Maybe we're to open it up to the public? Clean it out, make sure there isn't anything too dangerous in there, or any ancient pieces of history that need to be preserved." She shrugged slightly before rising to pour another cup of coffee.
 
John shrugged, "I don't know what they plan in the long run. I'm an archeaologist by training, so I guess they are interested in learning or preserving the history, right? What about the rest of you, what do you do?"
 
"Not a clue, sorry," Jason replied to Missy, mimicking John's shrug with one of his own. "I'm a doctor in A and E at a hospital in southeast London. Got an offer to work with the company and thought it sounded interesting."
 
Missy's face formed a light frown as she turned to look at Jason, "What's your specialization? I'm a doctor of medicine as well. I got the offer a month ago, and the money was too good to pass up, so now I get to live in London for a few months."
 
The sound of three short raps on the door can clearly be heard by all present in the room, right before it opens to introduce a lanky fellow, holding a dripping umbrella in one hand, and the strap to a short traveling pack in the other. He is clad in the typical dull gray dress pants and jacket of any professional man, of good quality, but not overly expensive. His shoes having the only remarkable quality of being leather, is the only thing that might make them stand out in anyone’s mind for the briefest of moments, as their make, could be found in every dress wares shop around the world. His shirt a button up having the only distinct quality of having ivory colored buttons, and being more of a mother of purl color than white. The dullness of his coloration seeming to make the vividness of his facial expressions stand out all the more vibrantly. His eyes did two quick scans of the room as he grinned almost apologetically to all present.





“I apologize for my lateness, but the woman on the phone originally gave me the wrong address.”





He then places his umbrella in the appropriate area, making quite sure that he didn’t disturb anyone else’s. He then turns back to the room at large with a smoothness that is often found in someone very much at home in their body, and that is used to keeping careful track of his body’s movements.





“I’m Paul Agious, but please call me Paul. I am a Historian and Engineer by background, and if nobody minds over much repeating themselves, perhaps you can tell me a little about yourselves. I find it’s always helpful to know a little about the background of the people I am working with, as well as their likes and dislikes, so I don’t accidentally step on anybody’s toes.”





As he spoke Paul folded his hands before him and laced his fingers together, as he stood with his back to the umbrella wrack, facing the assembled group.
 
His jacket and tweed slick from rain, Cedric lackadaisically approached the meeting room. A cursory glance to the guard drew a nod, with which the man responded in kind. Entering the room, he addressed the collected individuals inside with a gruff "Evenin" before moving to make himself a cup of coffee.
 
Presently the music being piped in



. Someone must have an iPod on shuffle.
 
"Emergency care," Jason replied to Missy with a friendly smile and turned to look at the door as they were joined by two more arrivals.


"Jason Ross, doctor by trade," he said by way of introduction to Paul.
 
She eyed the two new arrivals curiously, hiding a smile at the clear exuberance that Paul emitted as he entered. "Good evening, Mr. Agious. I'm Missy Thomason, also a medical doctor," she nodded to Paul and Cedric and finished pouring her coffee, moving aside to make room for him. Sipping lightly from her cup, her eyes swept the room as she thought. Missy started at the sudden shift of music from Dinah Washington to something rock-ish, "That's quite a change." She took a moment to compose herself, "Well, looking at all of us, it seems like this is going to be a rather large project."
 
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